A Gathering of Dastardly Demons and a Greedy Dragon

Somehwere Outside of Anfitrian

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Within a massive occupied and corrupted castle that once stood as a hold for worshippers of the Broken Sun far outside the bounds of the Last City, lay the initial forces the Demon Lord and Dragon Goddess allocated to take down Anfitrian and end inferior races once and for all. An ever-increasing army of cannon-fodder nameless demons were standing guard in various positions within and without the still massive corrupted stone walls of the fortress, checking the quality of their weapons and armor, chatting about mundane topics (for Demons at least), and of course scheming about how to get ever higher on the ladder of Demon-kind. Though they dare not mention such things around the truly powerful Demons that lay within the keep. Along with "normal" guard things, the various unnamed and unrecognized Demons made a game out of doing whatever degenerate and blasphemous acts they could get away with and treading the delicate line of disturbing their definitive betters. Gambling tables for both contract-bound card games and bloodsport dotted the tops and corridors of the various guard halls as the Demons inevitably got bored.

Said guard halls got more luxurious and decorated the deeper one got into the keep, with more powerful demons (though still without names) standing around incredibly soft carpets of genuine monster hide, with each of the Demons granted the honor of guarding the inner part of the castle had their own dorms, each one individually made for them, with the more accomplished and powerful demons of course being granted ever-so-slightly better living conditions than their ever-so-slight lesser, with some of them even having personal maids or butlers that they could do as they pleased with from the captured humans . Each and every one of them inwardly coveted what their peers had, but outwardly wouldn't dare make a move lest they caught the attention of the absolute monsters that they were currently given the great honor of protecting.

Many Lesser Dragons also flew around the skies of the castle or were perched atop whatever surface they could find. Though not nearly as strictly hierarchical as the Demons below them, the more powerful of the Lesser Dragons still got dibs on the best perching spots. There they were, dutifully watching for any intruders or straggling mortals with their incredibly keen senses for they knew better than to disobey the orders of the one that currently resided within the castle.

Alt Tag What was once a strategical war planning table for those that prayed for the Broken Sun and would dare stand against their absolute betters was turned into an absolutely luxurious banquet hall, with the powerhouses that sat around it having their every desire attended too by whatever they deemed the most attractive, strong or otherwise the best servants out of the corrupted Humans that once desperately and foolishly fought for this place.

The most obvious member of these "powerhouses" was Tempest, the vast Metallic Dragon whose body and limbs currently comfortably curled around the inner walls of the hall in a resting position, his various scales glowing with mystical powers and a molten orange underneath like the living forge he was. Though his head still stood at relative attention waiting for the important matters that were to be discussed. Though he was mostly waiting for a certain member that wasn't here yet.

"Where is Raggamath? He's supposed to be here."

Another of the "powerhouses" rolled his many eyes at the statement, sitting at the throne opposite to where the Dragon was curled upon. He was Xoth'takan, Blasphemous Eye of The Lord, whom which stood the defacto leader and strategist of the gathering. Though that was mostly because the others couldn't really care less about having the position. Xoth'takan was also the one responsible for corrupting the vast majority of the mortals that were now his servants, his many eyes glimmering with glee in the contrasting memories of the paragons they once were and the mewling servants they are now. Though now was not the time to enjoy the many fruits of his labors, he had a war to plan and a certain disobedient jackass to complain about.

"sigh he is as he would say, "fashionably late". Because of course he just can't show up on time to one of the most important meetings he's ever been in over the many millennia of his life."

There was a slight chuckling from the third of the four that currently resided there.

"I personally think that it adds to his roguish charm."

(Author's Note: Since I don't have a physical description, I'm just not gonna mention Erdsbane's physical appearance. If Erdsbane's anon wants to add something or adds a picture then I'll change it.).

It was Erdsbane The Story Eater, ever the theatric, was somewhat enamored by Raggamath's blatant disregard for any sort of decorum, seeing it as he put it "rougish charm". Truly a Demonic thing to not care about anything even up to the final battle. Though Xoth'takan didn't see it his way.

Speak of the Demon, as if he apparated out of air, Raggamath, Hidden Blade of the Demon Lord waltzed right around Tempest with a cocksure stance. None of them even saw, smelt, heard, felt, or detected anything before he appeared, and still his movements still barely registered to any of their senses asides from their sight, and soon to be hearing. Raggamath looked up at Tempest's head and winced as he began speaking.

"Wow, Tempest, you're less and less shiny every time I see you."

He began having his trademark manic grin of glee upon his face, putting his right arm over his chest and his left pointing outwards towards a certain Dragon that glared towards the Demon below.

"Don't worry, I completely understand. Performance issues are quite common in Dragons over a millennia ol-ACK"

Tempest had enough of Raggamath's bullshit and blew a torrent of pure ash and soot from his nostrils towards him, with everyone present watching with a smirk and a slight chuckle as Raggamath comically swatted away the smoke with his bladed arms while coughing whatever constituted his lungs out as he walked towards the left end of the room (on the picture).

"COUGH okay cough I kinda deserved that."

Raggamath then looked and gestured towards Xoth'takan within the throne.

"Hey Xoth, you ever got your..uh.. I think it was...16th eye all healed up?"

Xoth'takan somehow deadpanned at him with all of his 17 eyes (I counted).

"Clearly. I would have an obvious gap in my facial structure otherwise. Now, do you have anything important or valuable to add Raggamath?"

They all looked towards him with slight anticipation and more smirking as Raggamath put his arms to his hips with a childish pout as he couldn't pull any more of his typical chicanery. He then leaned against a corner next to Tempest's tail, crossing his arms as he got comfortable.

"Fiiinnee. Speaking of having a gajillion eyes everywhere Xoth, you got any semblance of of an intelligence network set up in Anfitrian? We don't know anything about it exact save for it's name and that it exists somewhere in the asscrack coast of the continent."

That got the other three to perk up. It seems the time for actually discussing important strategy had arrived. Xoth'takan leaned forward and sat his head upon one of his four arms, responding to Raggamath's geniune question.

"Not yet. The ward structure is infuriatingly comprehensive due what I can presume to be temples of the Unmade Goddess based on all possible theoretical locations, and now the wards are constantly evolving and improving with the revival of the best mortal wizards from battles long past."

Erdsbane perked up even further with a smile and spoke, seeing a clear opportunity.

"And that shall be their downfall. Their optimism in improving their final bastion's defenses into impenetrability is reliant upon the changes being made by a disparate group of recently revived and mostly amnesic mages. It's bound to leave some very juicy holes we can poke our heads through, and by the time they discover what's happened, it'll be far, far too late."

Xoth'takan nodded and agreed.

"Indeed. Their gaps in memory and ability along with their desperation will inevitably give us the openings we want. All we have do is wait, and they'll give us their precious Last City on a silver platter."

Tempest also agreed.

"I concur. Along with all but guaranteeing our enemies being severely compromised for the upcoming war, we'll have more than enough time to gather enough forces for both an overwhelming tactically supported assault of Anfitrian and be more than able to defend ourselves from a possible pincer attack from the Beast God's followers."

Erdsbane chuckled and talked in a sing-song voice.

"It seems that slow and steady wins the race once again, and time always remains on our side."

Raggamath once more spoke up from his little corner.

"That's really cool and all, but what am I supposed to do? Just wait an indeterminate amount of time until the war starts to have some fun? My job is to cripple their command structure and I'm not seeing any command structures to cripple."

Xoth'takan then rolled his many eyes.

"In order to get proper materials to feasibly upgrade their defenses, they'll have to venture out in parties of resurrected heroes just large enough to nearly guarantee success in braving the outside and returning with loot, but not enough to significantly weaken their defenses."

Xoth'takan smirked.

"I don't believe I have to say anymore."

Ragamath took on a wicked grin and was practically vibrating with excitement.

"You always know what to say Xoth, you always do."

That dialogue essentially concluded the strategic meeting between the four. The Demons and Dragon would gather ample reinforcements and wait patiently for any opportunity to strike Anfitrian in any way, physically, mentally, magically, or spiritually. The heroes within Anfitrian are clueless to the brewing disaster of evil the outside powers that be are brewing, will they stand tall and repel this mighty threat? Or will the Last City fall? Will the Demon Lord, Dragon Goddess, and their followers live in calamitous and sinful prosperity for eternity? Who knows? Fate has long since been abandoned in this world.

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Pub: 07 May 2025 17:36 UTC

Edit: 07 May 2025 19:51 UTC

Views: 182